Many types of medications, vitamins, supplements, and other compounds are intended to be taken orally and are provided in the form of solid tablets. Such tablets may be provided with a predetermined concentration (i.e., dosage) of one or more active constituents and may be commercially available in many different tablet shapes and sizes. FIG. 9 depicts representative types of commercially-available tablets. As illustrated in FIG. 9, these representative tablet shapes include capsules 11A, 11B, 11C, ovals 11D, 11M, 11N, ellipses 11E, 11O, 11P, balls 11F, 11G, 11H, disks 11I, triangles 11J, squares 11K, and multi-angle shapes, such as 11L.
People sometimes require a lower dosage of medication or other active constituent than that provided in a whole tablet. The term “lower dosage,” as that term is used herein, refers to a dosage that includes less than the full amount of active constituent (i.e., full dosage) provided in a whole tablet. For example, it may be inappropriate for a child or small adult to take an entire tablet containing a full medication dosage because the concentration of the medication or other active constituent may exceed a safe level for a person of that age or size. Unfortunately, many types of tablet-form medications are commercially available only in full dosage concentrations. Tablet splitting offers an opportunity to provide more appropriate dosage concentrations.
Another benefit of dividing oral solid tablets into smaller portions is that the reduced size of the tablet may make it easier for a person to ingest the tablet. For instance, certain tablets are large and may be provided in shapes that are difficult for children and small adults to swallow. Reducing the size of the tablet may make swallowing the tablet easier.
Tablet splitting is gaining popularity and wide acceptance because it offers an opportunity to contain the cost of healthcare. This opportunity exists because the pharmaceutical manufacturers provide medication in the tablet form in a variety of dosage strengths to help titrate the correct dose to each patient. Tablets of different strengths of the same medication have little price variance. For example, it is common for one tablet with a dosage of 20 mg of a medicine to cost the same as one tablet with a dosage of 40 mg or even 80 mg of the same medicine. By prescribing one-half, one-quarter, one-eighth, etc., of a tablet, significant savings can be realized. In addition, tablet splitting may be used to obtain doses that are not currently available.
Physicians, pharmacists, patients, health maintenance organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and the like frequently request tablet splitting. As no standard exists, pill splitting quality varies greatly. The task of monitoring quality is often too expensive, complicated, and laborious for most institutions and individuals. Additionally, quality standards are not readily available for split tablets.
Many prior art devices designed to divide tablets are generally quite basic, provide limited accuracy, and are labor intensive. One of the most common ways of dividing tablets is with a simple hand-held knife or razor blade. The tablet is simply clamped between the blade and a hard surface until the tablet is cut or breaks. Many pharmacies and institutional facilities use this simple technique for cutting pills into smaller portions. This manual dividing technique, however, is slow and labor-intensive. Manual dividing of tablets may also be inaccurate and may result in incorrect dosages. Manual dividing may crush the tablet rather than divide cleanly through the tablet thereby wasting potentially costly medication.
Problems associated with many tablet dividing devices include tablet shattering, inaccuracy, and significant loss of product during the dividing process. Studies have shown that off-the-shelf tablet dividers fail to meet expectations for content uniformity. Given the public desire and expectations for high product standards, as demonstrated in the standards for whole tablet content uniformity, and the studies mentioned, as well as the vast promotion for tablet splitting, a compromise on public standards exists. That is, the standards for whole tablets are exacting and aimed at ensuring that a tablet has an accurate and balanced concentration of the medicinal titrate. Consuming an inaccurately divided tablet portion obviates the need and purpose of these exacting, whole-tablet standards.
As can be readily appreciated, the above-mentioned problems associated with the dividing of tablets are amplified in large-scale pharmacies, such as those found in institutional settings like hospitals or skilled nursing facilities. Such institutional settings are ideal candidates for dispensing tablets having intermediate dosages of medication because of the needs of the consumer. Under present practice, the pharmacy that provides medication to these institutions usually takes the responsibility for dividing the conventional tablets into half-tablet forms, each half-tablet including an inexact intermediate (e.g., half) dosage. Manual dividing of the tablets can be extremely complicated because a number of different tablet-form medications may need to be divided on a routine basis in large quantities in order to fulfill the prescription requirements for these large facilities. The logistics of dividing these tablets can be formidable.
Another disadvantage of manual tablet-dividing, particularly in pharmacies dispensing many different types of tablets, is that the pharmacist may become exposed to medication particles potentially causing injury to the pharmacist. In addition, the knife blade or hard surface may become coated with residue from the divided or crushed tablets potentially contaminating subsequently-divided tablets using the same equipment. Any cross-contamination could potentially result in injury to the patients.
It would be desirable, therefore, to have a dividing apparatus that alleviates the labor-intensive nature of the dividing operation. It would further be desirable to have such an apparatus divide tablets into more than two tablet portions to meet dosage, size, or economic needs. It would also be desirable to divide a tablet into a plurality of tablet portions in one pass, rather than performing multiple sequential dividing operations to obtain a plurality of tablet portions. Additionally, it would be desirable to divide a previously divided tablet portion into still smaller tablet portions. Also, it would be desirable to have the resultant tablet portions with a smooth, finished edge similar to the edges of a whole tablet. Rough edges tend to cause the tablet to be prone to disintegration when the tablet rubs against objects such as other tablets or the side of a tablet container.